Injured Rivera Not Ready to Quit

If a man can make walking with crutches look effortless, well, who else but Mariano Rivera? Here he was, practically gliding across the clubhouse on his new crutches, when he noticed everyone studying his every move.

“I didn't die, you know,” he said, feigning annoyance. “I’m going to bust out running in a minute.”

And that’s when you knew. It would be a few minutes before Rivera would announce his intention to return from soon-to-be-scheduled knee surgery and pitch again next season, but his mood had given him away.

The tears from Thursday night, tears he had never cried in public , were long gone, replaced by the Rivera of old. The smile was back.